By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live
Taped earlier in the week in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Streamed July 3, 2020 on WWE Network
205 Live was back in front of the WWE Performance Center crowd, only this time, the spectator wrestlers were wearing masks. Drew Gulak joined Byron Saxton on commentary again and was fresh off his match on Smackdown…
1. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Matt Martel (w/Chase Parker). Ever Rise came out together with Martel being scheduled to take on Scott in a singles match. Martel and Scott locked up with Martel hitting a quick arm drag and taunting Scott. This success didn’t last long as Martel tried for a headlock, but Scott shot him off the ropes and hit an arm drag of his own.
Martel regrouped and took some advice from Parker. He swung wildly looking for clotheslines on Scott, eventually settling for a chop but this simply angered Scott who rallied back with chops and strikes of his own followed by a snapmare into a pair of uppercuts. Scott went to the second rope, but Chase Parker pulled him off, causing a disqualification…
Isaiah Scott defeated Chase Parker by disqualification.
Anish’s Thoughts: Obviously, this was a set up to the next match, as Tony Nese immediately came out to the aid of Scott and asked the referee to make a tag match, so that’s what we got. One thing I found interesting was Gulak mentioned on commentary that Martel is stronger than Scott, which could play to his favor. This is the only piece of information WWE has ever given me on Matt Martel to make me care about him. Poor job by WWE in promoting Ever-Rise, but good on Gulak for saying something useful.
2. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Tony Nese vs. “Ever-Rise” Matt Martel and Chase Parker. The referee signaled for the match to be made into a tag match and with Nese and Scott struggling to trust each other, Scott was jumped by Ever Rise who isolated him with strikes in their corner. Scott reversed a suplex attempt from Parker and hesitated to tag in Nese, so Nese tagged himself in and took control.
Nese used a chin lock and a shoulder block to wear down Parker and convinced Scott to tag in and hit a double suplex on Parker. Scott hesitantly complied and tried to continue the assault on Parker, but Parker was able to trip Scott into the bottom buckle. Ever Rise took control for a minute again, hitting Scott with a double Irish Whip clothesline and a step-up elbow.
Parker tried for a front face lock on Scott, but Scott hit a jawbreaker and a kick on Parker, building enough space to tag in Nese who rushed Parker and Martel on his own, even hitting them with a hotshot cross body combo followed by a moonsault. Ever Rise teamed up on Nese however, giving Parker the time to catch Nese with a Gory Bomb.
Scott broke up the pinfall attempt and he and Nese brawled with Ever Rise, with Nese ending up in the ring, hitting Parker with the running knee wash. Nese then tagged in Scott who hit a double foot stomp and got the pinfall victory…
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Tony Nese defeated Ever Rise.
Anish’s Thoughts: I really liked the dynamic of this match because of how well Nese and Scott really worked the dynamic of rivals coming together well. Parker and Martel put on a good match as well, but I’m still finding it hard to care about them. Parker hitting that random Gory Bomb in the middle of the match was a nice surprise, because I love that move. But nothing came of it so it felt a little wasted, especially with no build up.
3. Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza (w/Santos Escobar) vs. Leon Ruff and Liam Gray. Wilde got into the ring and rocked Ruff with a clothesline and followed up with a rolling Moonsault. Wilde tagged in Mendoza who worked with him to hit a rope rebound moonsault.
Mendoza then stomped on Ruff and cut him off from Gray before chopping him to the ground and hitting a modified fall away slam and allowing him to tag in Gray. Mendoza welcomed Gray with a number of strikes followed by a twisting suplex. Mendoza then tagged in Wilde and hit a Russian Leg Sweep plus enzuigiri combo to get the pinfall victory.
“Legado Del Fantasma” Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza defeated Leon Ruff and Liam Gray.
Anish’s Thoughts: A very quick squash match where Wilde and Mendoza got to show off their flashy moves and their style, so it did the job. More than anything, I loved the cocky attitude that these three walked into the PC with and the smile with which they wrestled the entire match. Santos Escobar looking in from the outside lauding his stable mates also added to the domineering aesthetic that they gave off. It was nice to see the NXT Cruiserweight Champion on 205 Live, I hope we see more of him and this was a good way to showcase Wilde and Mendoza.
Overall, this was a fun show and I was shocked to see that it still all amounted to less than half an hour. I don’t know why WWE seems intent on keeping 205 Live on this leash, but here we are, and everyone on the show did the best they could so props to all of them. My main hope is to see more of Legado Del Fantasma in the future.
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